Editorial: Taking on booze culture

The breath alcohol limit for drivers aged 20 and over is dropping from 400mcg of alcohol per litre of breath to 250mcg

In a week or so we'll start to learn how New Zealand's binge drinking culture will react to new laws that reduce the legal booze limit for drivers aged 20 and over.

The breath alcohol limit for drivers aged 20 and over is dropping from 400mcg of alcohol per litre of breath to 250mcg, and the blood alcohol limit is lowered from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood (.08) to 50mg (0.05).

The penalties change too. If you are caught driving between the new limit and 400mcg, it is an instant $200 fine plus 50 demerit points. The fine is $700 for a blood alcohol result - the more expensive fine covers the cost of the blood test and its analysis.

Will it deter drivers? It has to, but the positive affect of the change will take months, possibly years to assess.

Immediately, it changes the dynamic of socialising.

Will taxi businesses anticipate extra profits from responsible drinkers who may previously have driven, but now risk the fine and demerit points?

Our present booze drinking culture offers boom and bust hours for taxi drivers. High volumes of work across two relatively short time frames each week, and then meagre offerings throughout the week. In some ways, we have moved little distance from the mentality of the six oclock swill, and have simply extended the hours.

The result we all hope for is less alcohol related injury and death on our roads.

If we were truly serious about alcohol's ravages upon society, we would have reduced the limit, but not the penalty. The old limit was set during a time when we were more tolerant of alcohol abuse. Our tolerance has decreased, so has the limit, so why should the penalty?